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His Dream Come True (Complete Story)


TQuintA

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TQuintA
Excellent read! A perfect mix of fun and fantasy.
No matter what style you write in or form you take, one off or series, you always make your readers wanting more! 

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@TQuintA you’ve done it again!  It’s an absolute pleasure reading anything you create, and this was no different.  I like this short one-off style!  If only we could really be Dirk!  Great job as usual! 

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Whenever I finish a story on this site, I like to give some bonus behind the scenes material.

 

This gets self-indulgently personal, so feel free to skip to the last paragraph (or just the bolded bit) if you’re not in the mood for that kind of content. 

 

Ever since I’ve started doing some typing as part of my physical therapy for Arnold (my brain tumor), I’ve built up significant progress.  I currently do about two to three hours of typing a day; my livelihood and quality of life depend on my ability to type, so I am taking it eminently seriously.  I used to be a demon at typing.  People (friends, family, co-workers, even students) used to comment that I was inhumanly fast.  While typing, I also made comparatively few errors for the speed I typed (in part because my thoughts include punctuation).  I regularly made mistakes, obviously—I am human, after all.  But, I didn’t have to sacrifice speed for accuracy.  Hell, I could hold a conversation while typing an unrelated document (that parlor trick used to scare people). 

 

I say this not to boast but to provide context for why I was so scared in my last comment under my “Hello” post—I went from that level of dexterity to being unable to hold a spoon tightly or for very long.  I was terrified I would never type again I had so little control over my hands. 

 

As I’ve practiced typing, there have been some casualties along the way.  At first, my typing was so ungainly that I literally broke the keyboard on my laptop and now use an old plug-and-play keyboard my brother had in his basement. 

 

Even with hiccups like that along the way, the practicing has paid off; I’m almost back up to full speed.  I’m not there yet, and I make a frustratingly large number of mistakes that I have to go back and fix.  At the same time, I acknowledge that, considering where I started pre-Arnold, “slightly below normal speed” for me is fast by most people’s standards.  Considering the difficulty I had with my hands as recently as February, I want to use the adjective “miraculous” to describe my progress.  In fact, because of the amount of time I dedicated daily to typing, I finished the first draft of a full-length play in April. 

 

Since that project went swimmingly, I decided to work on a story for this website from an idea I had pre-Arnold.  I’m currently 21 pages into that project (the working title is “Going Niche”).  However, from my prewriting, I suspect that project is likely to end up being comparable in length to Weird, But Sweet or even Hey, Big Guy.  I hope to start treatment for Arnold in June (I haven’t even started treatment yet; you read that right), and my neurologist warned me that any progress I’ve made could be lost nearly instantaneously if Arnold decides to have a growth spurt.  For those reasons, I’m scared I’ll never finish the story I’m currently working on.  I definitely won’t finish it by June 5th, the date of my next MRI. 

 

With all of this in mind, I decided to set a challenge for myself like I often do on this website.  I took my normal three hours of typing practice one day and wrote a brand new story, swearing to publish it after three hours, even if it was unfinished.  To keep myself honest, I set an alarm on my phone.  I gave myself a half hour for prewriting (I am still the Monarch of Prewriting), half an hour for editing, and two hours for writing.  That story ended up being “His Dream Come True.” 

 

Unfortunately, my plan didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted it to.  The plot was too ambitious for this challenge, and I ended up with only 10 minutes to edit.  So, the version I posted was rough by my standards. 

 

Yes, because these were self-imposed rules, I could've taken more time to edit.  The time limit was imaginary.  However, the whole point was to challenge myself, and it’s not much of a challenge if I change the rules for my convenience.  So, I published it in its rough state.  

 

I’m glad this story got a positive response.  Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it did.  I don’t say this to fish for compliments.  Just the opposite, in fact.  I am floored, flabbergasted, and flattered at the love this story got.  It was a bright light in a dark time for me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you all.  I also don’t say any of this to brag.  I hear how much of what I’ve shared in this post can come across as bragging.  I apologize for that.  It wasn’t my goal; it was merely inevitable to communicate what I wanted to communicate.  Additionally, I know I’m being unfairly harsh on a story I cranked out that fast.  The story’s decent.  I’m not ashamed of it.  I just know it could have been better.  In fact, as soon as I’ve posted this, I plan on giving the story a once-over.  I am making no major structural changes, though.  There are a lot of details from my prewriting that did not make it into the final draft because of the time limit: a more thorough description of Dirk’s midsection, the payoff for the “crooked smile,” how the fae proved her powers to Perry, more appeals to the senses, a longer description of what Perry looked like in his workout clothes.  I’m consigning all of these details to the fire: I couldn’t write them in the time allotted, so they’re gone.  But, because I want this story to be as polished as possible, I’m allowing myself to edit for grammar, clarity, continuity, and style—because I respect my readers and have a sense of professional pride.  Again thank you, thank you, thank you all.

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Never apologize for sharing your story, sweetheart, the triumphs as well as the stumbles. If anything, your recounting tends to downplay your utter fabulosity! I wasn't aware that "His Dream Came True" had any shortcomings and as people here will tell you I am nitpicky to the point of pedantry! 

Please remember that anything and everything you share with us is a gift beyond compare. 

Sending positive vibes for healing, skillful healthcare providers, and good medical outcomes.

XOXO

Richard 

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